Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

April 16, 2019

We left the Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu this morning after an early breakfast.  Here’s the view from our room. The red and yellow building is a monastery.

We were traveling business class to Paro Bhutan and so we had access to the executive lounge, a good place to wait for our flight. The check in and immigration was relatively quick and we had a couple of hours before the flight.

Once we started on the flight, we realized that the Himalaya mountain range was visible from the other side of the plane, so Norm kept getting up to get these shots. Just spectacular.  An additional shot of Mount Everest is the last one, taken by someone on that side of the plane and shared with us.

Paro airport is known to be the most dangerous landing in the world. It is in a valley surrounded by mountains that are 18,000 feet high. There are only a few select pilots that are certified to land here and the flights are only allowed under visual meteorological conditions and only from sunrise to sunset.  It was thrilling to be sure!

Our Bhutan visa papers were checked in Nepal so there was a typical immigration check here which was very quick.  It is a pretty small airport with only two airlines.  Ours was Druk Air which is owned by the Bhutan government. There are 3 other airports in Bhutan but this is the only international airport.

We were met by our guide, Tashi and our driver Kinley. Here is what the airport looks like.

We set out for the capital city of Bhutan, Thimphu.  The trip was about 90 minutes and we made several stops. On the way, Tashi gave us lots of information about Bhutan.  He also welcomed us with the traditional white scarf (Tashi Khada) and said what a privilege it is to have us visit.

Paro is 7200 feet above sea level and the capital city is 7550 feet above sea level. Bhutan has a population of 800,000 of which 180,000 live in the capital city, Thimphu. There is no pollution here and in many ways is the exact opposite of Kathmandu, Nepal.  You can see for miles and to the bottom of the rivers!

Bhutan has only been open to outsiders since 1974 and only got television and phones in 1999. Now the country is quite modern in this infrastructure.

70 % of the country is covered by forests.

Their only exports are fruits, wood and electricity.  Hydropower is the main source of income and tourism is second.

All tourists must pay US$250 per person per day ($200 in the off season)  with a US $40/30 surcharge per person for us since we are in a group of one/two. This covers accommodation, transport in Bhutan, a guide, food and entry fees. Their motto is high value, low impact (on the country). 30% of this money goes to free health care, free education, poverty relief, and infrastructure for Bhutan’s people. And it shows!

I read about the happiness index and asked Tashi about it.  They are known as the happiest country in the world and in fact measure the  Gross National Happiness Index. The phrase ‘gross national happiness’ was first coined by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 when he declared, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product.” If people are happy, GDP will increase too.

There is no immigration at all here. Many people from India (they have a good relationship with India and those visitors do not pay tax) come to work on projects here but must return to their home when the work is complete.

Smoking is not allowed and there is a huge fine if you are caught. There are small signs everywhere about health and safety.  I told Norm they kind of reminded me of the old Burma Shave signs which he said he never saw in person since he grew up in NY and they never had a car!

This is an earthquake area and no buildings are more than 6 stories high.  They are mostly built of wood and mud to withstand any shaking. Here is an example of a small one.  In the cities they do use different construction for the bigger apartments and businesses.

We stopped at an ancient temple with an iron bridge that has been there since the 15th century.  It was built by a Tibetan saint and engineer who supposedly built 108 (the holy number) of iron bridges throughout Tibet and Bhutan.  Here it is with the stone entrance – no one can walk on it now but up until a few years ago you could. They have build another suspension bridge to get you over to the temple.

The prayer wheels, which we also saw in Nepal, contain 1 million of the prayer that is written on the outside, so if you spin it once it is like you prayed 1 million times.  The small white stupas (Tsa-Tsa, pronounced with a silent T– yes, Tashi spells everything for me) are seen everywhere, in the rocks along the road, and near prayer wheels like these. They represent prayers for another person, living or dead.  Sometimes ashes are incorporated.

Both Tashi and Kinley are wearing the traditional dress for men, the gho. It is also the school uniform for boys.  The dress for women is the kira, also the girls school uniform.

Here are Norm and Tashi and you can see the traditional dress. and here we are in front of the temple.

70% of the people here are Buddhists, the rest Christian and Hindu.

The national language is Dzongkha but everyone learns English starting in primary school.  Tashi and Kinley speak
English perfectly.

When we arrived in Thimphu, we drove down the main street and went for lunch to the Peace and Harmony restaurant.  I am going to love the food.

It is the first time I tasted fiddlehead fern.  Delicious.

You will see that a symbol widely used in Bhutan is the penis.  They say you never forget your first one!! Here are two in the restaurant.  I will see what Tashi says about it – but apparently the symbol dates back to a 15th century lama.  I will try not to overdo it with this in the posts but it does present a certain fascination!

Archery is the most popular sport here, and after lunch we went to an archery match.  This was like nothing I have ever seen before – the distance to the target is 150 yards – 1 and a half times the length of our football field – incredible!  They use bamboo bows. When an arrow hits the target they gather and do a kind of chant and dance!

After the archery we had a walk through town.  There are no traffic lights and everyone must cross the street at the crosswalk – they call it the zebra crossing because of the stripes! The car traffic is directed by an officer in a booth. The clock tower in the center of town and all of the buildings are just beautifully painted in Bhutanese style.

Norm went to a money changer and when he asked Tashi to be sure  he got the right amount (about 69 Nigultrum to 1 US dollar), Tashi said that no one counts money here, everyone is so honest!

We are staying at the Ramada hotel and will be sightseeing in this area tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

April 15, 2019

It is our last day in Nepal, hard to believe it went so fast, and we had so many experiences.

Today, Sagar and Zyanu picked us up just before 9 for our day.  As usual, Sagar was prepared with the weather, the sunrise and sunset information and the plan for the day.  He is so very organized – a really wonderful man and guide.  He has enriched our visit for sure.

Our first visit today was to the Pashupatinath Temple.  Dedicated to Lord Shiva, Pashupatinath is one of the four most important religious sites in Asia for devotees of Shiva and it is the most important in Nepal. It is the largest temple complex in Nepal and  it stretches on both sides of the Bagmati River which is considered holy by Hindus. Monday is the day that is dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva and so there were lines of people to get into the temple for worship. They believe that if you worship on the deity’s special day, all your dreams will be fulfilled. As in most Hindu temples, only Hindus are allowed in, but the outsides of the temples are so interesting in and of themselves.

You must be born into Hinduism, there are no actual converts although some may choose to practice the religion.

This Temple and the entire grounds is a World Heritage site.  It is the site of cremation for Hindus.  We witnessed the entire process of cremation from across the river.  In Nepal you are allowed to take photos and videotape the cremation so we did both. To the Hindus, death is an important part of the journey of life so they do not object to people viewing the cremation. You are not allowed to film in India and also no women can attend in India at the Ganges river site, but they can attend in Nepal.

There are three places that people are cremated here.  On the 24th of January 2016, Pashupati Area Development Trust inaugurated the first functioning modern electric crematorium in Nepal at the traditional cremation site near the Pashupatinath temple. It is cheaper and less time consuming.  There is a non Hindu site and then the Hindu site which you can only access through the temple itself.

Sagar explained the process to us. Cremation is done 24 hours after the death. The body is wrapped and brought by bamboo stretcher to the site. Most Hindu people choose to die at home.  If the person dies in the hospital, a metal stretcher is used, and if they die outside of the jurisdiction a casket is used but the body is removed from the casket at the site.

The oldest son is the one that lights the flame, after the feet are washed and a ritual water or milk is put on the lips.  This represents the last act. If there are no sons, a worker at the site performs this ritual. Women are not allowed to light the funeral pyre.

After the cremation, the ashes are put into the river.  Some Hindus put some ashes in a small urn and do a separate ceremony one year after death.

Here are some photos of this unique experience.

Many families then meet with Brahmins and prepare offerings,  Men shave their heads.  Here are some of those families.

The temple grounds have monkeys who are always looking for food.

There are men dressed as Brahmin priests and we gave them a donation for these pictures.

The lines to get into the temple were very long.

Sagar told us that if a woman has her sari over her head, she is from India.  They don’t do that in Nepal.   After any rituals, people apply red powder in the forehead as symbol of good luck and mark of celebration. As guests are regarded god in Nepal, visitors are often welcomed in the house putting red dot in the forehead. Married women have the powder extending up into the hair and widows use yellow powder.

Here are some other pictures from the temple area.

These colors are used for the forehead during festivals.

Any time  you see a statue of a bull, it is a Shiva temple.

Sagar told us that Hindus and Buddhists think of life as a piano – the white keys represent what is good in life and the black ones represent our mistakes or what is not so good, and that life is a balance of both. An interesting way to look at things. 

We went on to the Boudhanath Stupa, where we were last night for dinner. This time Sagar led us through the complex and then we had some free time in the area that surrounds the Stupa – a mixture of cafes, shops and restaurants.

Last night’s dinner place.  And these are our food preference instructions with a thank you that Sagar gave us to take to the restaurant.  Most people speak English, but just in case!   Yes, he is that detailed.

The Stupa is the largest in the world and one of the most flourishing centers of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. There is nothing inside the Stupa itself, it is solid.

This is a type of stick used for incense.

Sager spinning a huge prayer wheel.  These are the smaller ones.

After this visit, we said goodbye to Sagar. Zyanu will pick us up for transport to the airport tomorrow morning for our trip to Bhutan.

Sagar drew a detailed map for us of the Thamel  area.  He thought we would enjoy going there for shopping, visiting the Dreams Garden and perhaps dinner.  He also reminded us that the scarf we were given on our arrival to Nepal was to wish us good travel, good luck and good health.  We thanked him so much for all he did for us. We will never forget him or our wonderful trip in Nepal.

After a short rest, we  took a taxi to Thamel and yes, the taxi driver was continuously dodging potholes and other traffic.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful Dreams Garden.

We really enjoyed walking around this area.  There were all kinds of shops including those for people who will be doing a lot of trekking or mountain climbing.

Lots of beads everywhere.  These rough type ones are the Hindu beads. 

The smooth ones are used by Buddhists.

Every time we left the hotel, I meant to get a picture of this – the OTHER KFC.  Kathmandu Food Café!

On to Bhutan tomorrow!  More adventures await.

April 14, 2019

After our NY eve dinner at the Mystic Mountain hotel, we had the NY day brunch before Sagar and Zyanu picked us up for the day.   Here is the menu for the dinner last night.

The lobby was decorated for New Year.

We didn’t see a sunset or a sunrise because of the cloud cover, but we did get glimpses of the Himalayas when the clouds momentarily cleared.

Here are some shots of the hotel and some of the views. Beautiful place.

And I realized that I never posted a picture of Zyanu.

The plan for the day was to go trekking. We left the hotel close to 10 AM.  Sagar is a trekking guide, a mountain guide and a city guide and is certified in all of them.  He came equipped with trekking poles for us as we were doing a 7 K trek on a pretty rocky road downhill from the beautiful hotel.  Zyanu was going to be somewhere behind us in case we got tired part way through.  The dirt road had some traffic but not too bad, buses, cars and motorbikes were all traveling on the same road, and there were other people walking as well.  It took us through farmland on magnificent terraces.  All of the planting and harvesting is done by hand of course, these are hard working people.  Sagar says they start the children very young in having them carry large loads and building up their stamina to the extreme.  This is why the people from this area make great Gorka soldiers.

This is what the road and the terraces look like. There were markers at every kilometer. The photos don’t really show how immense and beautiful the terraces are.

Of course we spotted lots of animals on our way.  I loved this friendly goat.

So did Sagar.

And he wanted to follow Norm!

Many of the houses are plastered with cow dung on the outside.  This keeps the flies out of the house!

We did see the marijuana plants on the side of the road.

Beer bottles are turned in for 5 rupees each, we saw several piles of them.

This is a house with a corn drying kind of tree like structure next to it. They then grind the corn to make a roti bread.

We finished the trek by about noon and headed back to Kathmandu.  Lots of traffic again with people standing in the back of trucks and on the tops of buses.  This is apparently not allowed in Kathmandu city but in the outer areas you see it all the time. The buses are packed with people. And with the holiday today, the amusement park was busy and there were many people walking too.

And, of course, there were the cows in the road. This one had the traffic policeman lead him off.

You see families of 4 on motorbikes, and Norm was able to capture this picture of the dog.

We had the rest of the afternoon free, and I had booked a spa appointment – they had a “wonderful woman” special – scrub, massage, facial and steam and sauna.  I was indulged for over 2 hours and the cost with tax and tip was only $93.  Wonderful way to spend the afternoon.  Norm went to the pool until a small rain shower when he returned to the room.

Everyone is so friendly here.  The greeting is Namaste, and today people wished US a happy new year!

Sagar gave us the name of a restaurant nearby for dinner.  It is overlooking the Boudha Stupa.  We walked there, back roads that were very muddy and slippery, but an adventure for sure.  This area is on our schedule for a visit with Sagar tomorrow, so we just walked around the square and then went to the restaurant.

The walk back in the dark was interesting, should have brought the flashlight they provide in the room with us!

Tomorrow we will see some more sights in Kathmandu, including this temple.

April 13, 2019

I have to say that I never get tired of noodles for breakfast!

After breakfast, Sagar and our intrepid driver Zyanu picked us up at the Hyatt.  We checked out as we are going to Nagarkot for one night and returning to the Hyatt tomorrow.  As he did yesterday, Sagar had a paper prepared and told us the temperature expectations, the sunrise and sunset time and the plan for the day.

Here are some pictures from our trip there.

In case you think this country isn’t tech savvy – look at what they have in some of their buses.  Others are very primitive.

A few things we have learned from Sagar – there are 3 types of temples here.

Pagodas, shikharas and stupas.  I will highlight each one.

This one is a stupa

This one is a shikhara

This one is a pagoda

There are 3 important Hindu gods:

Brahma, the creator, Bhisnu/Bishnu, (or Vishnu), the protector and Shiva, the destructor (of bad people)

There are 5 elements of importance in Buddhism – air, water, fire, land and sky (space).

The dorje is the symbol of power. We are standing in front of one in this picture.

The Buddhist chant in Nepal (and we hear it playing in many places) is om ma ne pad me hum which means “I wish, no one has suffering in their life”.

Our first stop was at Bhaktapur. This is the former capital of the valley and was an important city on the trade route to Tibet.  It has preserved its character better than the other two cities in the Kathmandu Valley due to its more isolated location.  It is about 14 km east of Kathmandu.

We really hit a great time to be here.  It is Nepal’s New Year!

We passed through the city gates and the first thing we saw was a goat.  Sagar told us that due to the festival that was taking place, this goat was about to be sacrificed.  Many activists want animal sacrifice to be banned but that hasn’t happened so far.  108 is considered a sacred number in Hinduism and Buddhism, so for festivals, 54 goats and 54 bulls might be sacrificed.  Others sacrifice chickens or ducks. For those who don’t believe in animal sacrifice, they use the coconut water and sometimes eggs for the sacrifice. This woman has that type of sacrifice prepared.

Participants believe that animal sacrifices to the Hindu goddess Gadhimai will end evil and bring prosperity.

Warning:  we did take some pictures of this, and I might want to become a vegetarian now (almost there anyway).  I was very sad to see it but recognize that it is part of their culture.

We later saw a chicken and a boy holding a duck that was to be sacrificed.  Sagar did become a vegetarian after witnessing animal sacrifice.

I cannot imagine that these two boys want their duck to be killed.

Anyway, on a brighter note, this area is known for its yogurt, which is called King Curd.  Kids here say it should be called President Curd now since they don’t have a king any more!

There are three main squares here and we visited them all. Durbar Square is the main square of the city and with the festival going on, Sagar took us quickly through to the other two first. We will return later.

At Taumadhi Square, the second most important, there are many stone spouts, and fabulous wood and stone carvings like the ones we saw in Kathmandu yesterday. These are made of solid pieces of stone or wood. This area was hit hard by the 1934 earthquake and the 2015 one.  Sagar says that it is predicted that earthquakes come every 80 years here.  Most of the destruction in 1934 wasn’t reconstructed since historical significance wasn’t well understood then. Now, tourist entrance fees are collected for preservation of the culture, cleaning the city, and making it one of the best tourist destinations in Nepal.

Today was the festival of Biska Jatra (New Year) and they raise a long pole with tree leaves attached – 90 degrees. This is done with ropes and logs – so amazing to see how they do it. It remains up for three days to a week and when it falls, it symbolizes the destruction of evil. We stayed in this area for almost 2 hours to watch this event.  The place was packed with families, and there was a constant drum and cymbal serenade during the raising of the pole. It was like NY Eve in Times Square with the crowds!

When the pole was all the way up, there was a huge cheer from the crowd, including the ones on the building in the distance!

Some of the people and families we saw:

This chariot will be driven around the squares during the festival.

Other sights in the squares included the shops and many temples, some reconstructed, some still in pieces and some that withstood the earthquakes. The history here is just amazing.

We asked about the 6 sided star that looks like the symbol or Judaism, but here it stands for education – 6 stages of wisdom.

The other ones are the om, and the backward swastika, which in Buddhism symbolizes the footprints of the Buddha and nothing to do with Hitler’s use.

This is the traditional dress of the Newari (one of the ethnic groups) women, the red and black sari.  People are now wearing them a bit shorter, so this woman has tattoos on her legs below where the sari ends.  It is hard to see in this picture, Sagar says it is now common to see.

This is the offering you see in front of homes and shops.  First, cow dung is spread, then flowers, fruits, etc., are placed on the lotus stones.

This temple is guarded by many animals, each one is said to be 10 times stronger than the former.

This young girl was having photos taken. We think she is in contention to be the next living goddess.

The water area was surrounded by cobras, very common to see them as they are valued by Hindus as protective.

This is a lingum, it symbolizes the phallus and vagina as no life would be possible without both.  It is a common sight in the temple areas.

This is the gate to the royal palace.  The king wanted to have 108 windows but had to settle for 54 as the building wasn’t big enough for 108.

We saw lots of  houses that you could see had been divided, not physically but with a different look.  Sagar described how sons live with their parents but reach a point where they don’t want to live so close, so parents divide the house to provide a separate space for each son.

Markets are always interesting.

They use mostly mustard oil here for cooking and even for skin (never knew there was such a thing). Before electricity, they used it for oil in their lamps.  It is still used at some temples.

The last picture is beaten or flattened rice.

Rice leaves are also used to make these mats.

This is the famous peacock window.

This is a picture that resembles the mandala one that we bought yesterday.

This is pottery square, because of the festival no one was making pottery but this woman was lining up some of the small bowls.

Sagar is vigilant about buying us water and also gives us hand sanitizer all the time. He has amazing energy and it is good that we are in good shape because we are on the go all day.  So much to see and learn.

We headed out of Bhaktapur to our next hotel in Nagarkot. They have different license plates here.  The green ones are for tourist vehicles which Sagar says have top priority for everything because tourism is such an important part of their economy.

He warned us that the roads would be very bumpy on the way to Nagarkot. That was an understatement to be sure.  If we thought they were bad, wow, these were terrible.  We went from 3000 feet above sea level to 6886 feet and the roads were dirt, pot holed, windy and dusty.  When motorbikes or buses came the other direction, there were times we just avoided a collision.  Very exciting to say the least and Zyanu is a great driver.

The pollution is quite bad  here, dust is part of that. We couldn’t really see the scenery well. There are lots of wheat fields, and both Bhaktapur and Nagarkot are farming areas.

We saw marijuana plants growing along the road and lots of goats. Bet they are happy!

Every so often there would be a small store, bar, guest house or restaurant.

After about an hour we arrived at our hotel, the Mystic Mountain Hotel in Nagarkot.  The hotel is positioned so that you have views of the Himalaya Mountains and Mount Everest.

We were greeted with drinks and made comfortable for about 30 minutes as our room was not yet ready.

When we got to our room, wow, how we wish it was clearer because supposedly the sunrise and sunsets here are quite spectacular. You can see how hazy it is, so no spotting of the Himalaya vista right now. And how this hotel is built right into the hills.

Sagar said if it rains, the air will be clearer and we might have a better view.  Well, shortly after we arrived, we had a storm – with lots of hail! 

But it didn’t clear enough to see a sunset or much of the mountains.  We will hope for a clear morning, when we will go back to the Hyatt in Kathmandu for our final days in Nepal. We had the special New Year’s dinner in the hotel and it was delicious. We were told that there are leopards in this area and the people do not go out at night.  So we won’t either.  

April 7, 2019

Here is our arrival into the port of Tianjin which is the port you go to for Beijing. It is a huge container port.

Our morning started with a compulsory immigration face to face inspection.  Because we will be leaving the ship in Shanghai, the purser’s office instructed us to be in the reception area at 7 AM so they could escort us off the ship to go through immigration.  There were 6 of us in the same situation and we all walked out ahead of all of the other passengers, including those going on the 3 day overland in China.  That part worked OK, but when we got to the immigration officials, they were very confused and didn’t speak English and there was a big hold up. Finally I got through, but Norm was delayed.  Without going into too much detail, it turned out that the passport copies the ship provided to us to be stamped at immigration were from our old passport which we had to bring along because it has our India visa in it. They also did not give us arrival cards to complete.  Well, finally the immigration officials made a copy of the correct passport and we got through. We had to go back into the ship to get our things for our tour, and that caused another Chinese conundrum when we came back out as the official could not believe we already went through even though we showed him the stamp!

So now we were ready for the tour. But we waited for 45 minutes on the bus because the guide said they were waiting for 2 more people.  No one ever showed so we were on our way to Tianjin, our tour destination for the day.

Our guide today was Liu and his English was actually very good.  He repeated everything and was concerned that we would understand him.  He taught us some Chinese words and even gave us his cell phone number in case of any emergency.  He said just to stop any Chinese person and ask him/her to call him!

The seaport where we are docked is only about 6 years old, so it wasn’t here when we did our China trip in spring of 2012.  It is all built on reclaimed land and is quite massive.

Our trip to Tianjin (we chose not to go to Beijing since we spent quite a bit of time there in 2012 and saw the Great Wall and all of the important sights in Beijing) took about an hour.  Along the way, it was impressive to see literally many thousands of trees of all sizes, some recently planted.  Lots of peach trees that were blossoming were spotted.  Liu explained that March 12 is tree planting day in China.  They are very committed to planting many trees as a wind break and way to prevent devastating dust storms.

There were also many very tall apartment buildings as well as commercial buildings.

China has 34 provinces and 1.4 billion people in 9.6 million square kilometers making it the 4th largest nation in area behind Russia, Canada and the US.  But it is the largest in population.There are 56 minority nationalities in China and so there are many language variations.  Liu said that all children in Chinese schools, starting in pre-school, learn both Mandarin which is the official language, and English.

The word Tianjin  – Tian means heaven and jin means ferry boat. 

We passed the rail for the bullet train which travels between 350 and 500 km/hour!  350 is about 217 mph. This has made travel in China very fast and accessible.

We saw a lot of fish ponds along the way – mostly for carp.  Liu said that many Buddhists stock the ponds as offerings, and then other people catch the fish.  He thinks this is kind of peculiar.

When we reached the city, here are some of the sights we saw along the route to our first stop, the Confucius Temple. There are many buildings that used to be concessions of other countries and there is a distinct European flavor to many of them. The silver clock is at the top of the huge railway station.  The ferris wheel is the only one in the world build on a bridge! And yes, they have Budweiser here along with McDonalds.

The Confucius Temple is the third largest temple in the country, where Confucius has been adored for centuries.  It was founded during the Ming Dynasty and is considered the greatest ancient architectural site in the city.  Within the temple grounds are the Dacheng Palace Hall, Shrine of the Great Wise Men and the Lingsing Gate. The archways are quite decorative but sadly in disrepair. There is a lot about Confucius and his writings and teachings but only a small amount is in English. 

As you can see, photos were allowed here.

After our visit to the temple, we went to the Ancient Culture street.  Since it was Sunday, this area was very crowded with Chinese families enjoying the day. We noted that this city was not nearly as polluted as we found when we visited in 2012.

There is a temple to the goddess Lin who died at the age of 27.  She was a good swimmer and saved lots of people but unfortunately died at a young age trying to save someone. The people dedicated a temple to her.

There are many shops selling mostly beautiful crafts and foods of all types.  Nearly all the buildings along the street are constructed with blue bricks and feature colorful pictures of historical figures, flowers and birds painted on their doors and windows. There was even a Lego store!

What Norm is eating looks a lot like pineapple but it is a type of lightly sweetened rice.

Here are some of the other street foods we saw. I ate some of the nougat squares they were selling.

We went into a shop that had the most amazing selection of tiny tea pots and we saw the craftsman making them. They had a cute resident dog.

Tianjin has the Haihe river running through the city and the Ancient Culture Street is on the west bank of the river.  We didn’t have time for a river boat.

Some of the adorable children we saw.

Well, here we are in our last Japanese port.  Sasebo is the second largest city in the Nagasaki prefecture, Nagasaki is the largest. Although it was spared an atomic bomb, Sasebo was one of the original 17 possible targets and suffered heavy damage during World War II. 

 Here are some shots of our sail in and arrival this morning. This is a big naval port – 80% of the port is a US Navy base and there is a Japanese base tool  Note the sailors on the deck of the ship.  We were again welcomed by a band.

The amusing sign says “do not leave door open” and it is on an open door.

Our guide today was Maijumi.  She was excellent as all of our Japanese guides have been.  She talked about the bowing that is done out of respect and how the angle of the bow indicates the depth of the respect. The bow is 90 degrees for the emperor but just a slight bow as we greet people here.  We do bow as we greet people and they seem to really appreciate the gesture.  She explained the origin of the bow – in feudal days, the idea that you would bow before another person means that you trust that they won’t kill you.  She said it is like the origin of the handshake in the US, it shows that you don’t have a weapon.

She also stressed how much of a problem the aging population is for Japan.  Of the 126 million people in Japan, 28% are over 65 and only 12% under 15.

Our first stop was at the Ohashi Kannon, a beautiful Buddhist temple surrounded by forest.  The temple is one of many in Japan dedicated to Kannon, the goddess of mercy and compassion.  According to legend, the priest Gyoki founded Ohashi Kannon  in the 8th century.  The surroundings were really gorgeous, with forest and many cherry trees.  This is the peak week here for the blossoms and we feel so lucky to be in the presence of all this beauty. Daffodils are in full bloom too. We walked up some steep and slippery steps to get to the natural area with many old statues.  So serene and wonderous.

The last statue in this group is said to be about preventing senility. We bought a little trinket with a picture of this statue in it – we can only hope it works!

The ancient figures in the woodlands are really a sight to see.

We could take pictures in this temple so here are a few of the inside of the building.

After leaving this area, we went to the Yamashita house, a traditional Japanese style guest house constructed in the 19th century.  It was constructed without a single nail! The result is that the house has stood the test of time as a testament to the highly skilled craftsmen that built it.  We were taken on a tour through the house by the owner of both the house and the sake brewery next door. More on the brewery later.  Maijima needed to translate as he spoke only Japanese.

Back in the days of the feudal lords, the Shogun wanted to be sure to keep power, so the lords were commanded to return to Edo (now Tokyo) to pay homage to the central ruler. This journey took 40 days of walking.  They then needed to live there for 1 year before returning.  This house that we visited served as a guest house along the way.

The hat is a metal rain hat!

This folding divider depicts the four seasons in intricate drawings.

There was a small but beautiful garden where tea ceremonies are held.

The sake shop was across the street and we enjoyed a tour of the brewery (which has only 10 employees) before going across for a tasting.  The round piece hanging from the ceiling was the sign that the sake was ready in early years.  Most people couldn’t read then so the branches started out green (early sake) and when it turned brown the more fermented sake was available! Sake is made from rice, and we heard about the whole process during this visit. We also got a brochure explaining it all.

The back of the jacket is the crest of the family that owns the brewery.

We enjoyed a tasting and bought a small container to take home.

Our last stop on the tour was the Funakoshi Lookout where we had almost an hour to stroll around the grounds and observe the beautiful Kujuku islands.  Although Kujuku means 99, there are actually more than 200 islands in the group, most of them uninhabited because the area has been designated a national park. The islands are so undeveloped and photogenic that they were shown in the opening scenes of the movie The Last Samurai which was set in 1876.

On our way back to the ship, Maijumi taught us some Japanese words and also how to count in Japanese!  She also gave us each one of the green tea Kit Kat bars.  She told us that they are very popular here because Kitto Katto means “surely you will win”.  So lots of students eat them before exams.

She also showed us the symbols that have to be on cars.  The first is for a student driver and the second is for a senior citizen.

They have a new one for seniors now.

She showed us pictures of her wedding, too.

The license plates here are interesting.

White is for cars less than 600 cc, they pay only 7000 yen/year tax.  The yellow if for larger cars and they can pay 36-58,000 yen/year ( 322-519 US).  The green is for commercial vehicles like buses and taxis.

We returned to the port and headed out to walk to the shopping area. The specialty here is the Sasebo Burger.  It’s a beef burger topped with bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and a sunny side up egg.  It was created in the 1950s when the local eateries tried to catered to the appetites of American servicemen.  It is very popular and people line up to taste them.  The egg is a stopper for me, though! I had an ice cream cone for lunch.

But we had a good time, I found a couple of items that I wanted to buy and we were back in  time to line up for immigration before departing Japan.  Looking forward to our next visit.